Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets facts for kids

Imagine trying to spell out a tricky word over a crackly radio, like "rendezvous" or "reconnaissance." It would be super hard to understand each letter! That's why the military uses Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets. These are special lists of words, where each word stands for a letter of the alphabet. For example, instead of saying "A," you might say "Able." This makes sure messages are clear, even when communication is difficult.

These alphabets are not like the "phonetic alphabets" you might learn in music or language class, which show how sounds are made. Instead, they are simply code words for letters.

During World War I and World War II, different countries and even different parts of the military (like the Army or Navy) had their own spelling alphabets. This made it tough for them to talk to each other. To fix this, the Allied forces (mainly the US and UK) worked together to create common alphabets.

The last alphabet used in WWII continued into the Korean War. Then, in 1956, a new international alphabet was adopted. This new alphabet is now used by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and the ITU. NATO members call their version the "NATO Phonetic Alphabet."

NATO Phonetic And Morse Code Alphabet, from the US Navy Signalman 3 & 2 training manual, 1996. This table combines the ICAO international spelling alphabet and the ITU International Morse Code.

During WWII, the Allies had special terms for how different groups communicated:

• Combined: When different countries' military groups talked to each other.
• Joint: When two or more military groups from the same country talked to each other.
• Intra: When people within the same military group talked to each other.

Because of this, the Combined Communications Board (CCB), formed in 1941, made a spelling alphabet for when US and British forces communicated. If the US Army and Navy talked together, they used a "Joint Army/Navy" alphabet. If the US Army was on its own, it used its own alphabet. Some letters were the same across these alphabets, but many were different!

WWII CCB (ICAO) and NATO Alphabets

The US and UK started working together on these spelling alphabets during World War II. By 1943, they agreed on a streamlined system known as the CCB alphabet. Both nations had their own systems before this, going back to World War I. After the war, in 1947, the ICAO accepted this WWII-era alphabet as a standard.

After NATO was created in 1949, some changes were made. The ICAO spelling alphabet is also known as the "NATO phonetic alphabet." This is because it's used in a special book for all NATO navies. This book helps navies spell out messages using voice, flags, or Morse code. The name "NATO phonetic alphabet" became very well known because NATO's communication methods are used worldwide.

The NATO phonetic spelling alphabet was officially adopted on January 1, 1956. The ICAO radiotelephony spelling alphabet was still being finalized around that time.

United Kingdom Military Spelling Alphabets

Before the international standard, different parts of the UK military had their own ways of spelling things out.

British Army Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

Royal Navy Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

RAF Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

The RAF radiotelephony spelling alphabet was used by the British Royal Air Force (RAF). It helped them communicate clearly over radio, especially when spelling out aircraft names or codes. For example, a pilot might say "H for Harry" or "G for George."

Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb of the Polish 303 Kościuszko Squadron showing the RAF squadron code "RF" of 303 Squadron and the individual aircraft letter "D" which would be spoken, D-Dog

History

During World War I, communication was often done through wired telephones. These lines could be noisy or easily interfered with. Spelling alphabets were created to make sure messages were understood, both on wires and on the newer radio equipment.

The British Army and Royal Navy had their own alphabets. The RAF alphabet was based on the Army's "signalese" system. It didn't have a word for every letter at first, only for the letters that were most often confused.

By 1921, the RAF's "Telephony Spelling Alphabet" was used by all three British armed services. It then became required for UK civil aviation. In 1956, the NATO phonetic alphabet was adopted because the RAF worked closely with NATO and shared aviation facilities worldwide.

United States Military Spelling Alphabets

Like the UK, the US military also had different spelling alphabets for its various branches.

US Army Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

^† 'Interrogatory' was used instead of 'Inter' when the Army and Navy worked together.

US Navy Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

The US Navy's first spelling alphabet wasn't for radio. It was used on ships to call out flags for signals. The Navy had two different alphabets for this, with only "Xray" being the same in both.

The Navy's first radio spelling alphabet was published in 1913.

Joint Army/Navy Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet

The Joint Army/Navy (JAN) spelling alphabet was created in 1940 and started being used on March 1, 1941. It was later updated by the CCB after the US joined World War II. This alphabet was used by all parts of the United States Armed Forces until 1956, when the ICAO spelling alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, etc.) took its place. Before the JAN alphabet, each military branch had its own radio alphabet, which made it hard for them to talk to each other.

The US Army, British Army, and Canadian Army used a slightly changed version of this alphabet from 1943 onwards. For example, they used "Sugar" instead of "Sail."

Some parts of the JAN spelling system are still used today in the US Navy. For example, words like Dog, William, X-Ray, Yoke, and Zebra are used to name different parts of a ship for damage control. Also, the response "Roger" (meaning "received") comes from this alphabet.

Images for kids

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  Instruction page from WW I U.S. Army trench code, Seneca edition, with spelling alphabet for telephone and radio use

See Also

• Allied Communication Procedures
• International Code of Signals
• Spelling alphabet
  • APCO radiotelephony spelling alphabet
  • Cockney alphabet
  • German phonetic alphabet
  • Greek spelling alphabet
  • ICAO radiotelephony spelling alphabet
• Toc H—example of signalese carry-over